Cigarette package container



A ril 17, 1962 R. E. WATKINS 3,

CIGARETTE PACKAGE CONTAINER Filed Oct. 27, 1960 INVENTOR RICHARD E.WATKINS ATTORNEY United States Patent v 3,029,931 ClGARETTE PACKAGECONTAINER Richard E. Watkins, 1917 Westway, Garland, Tex. Filed Oct. 27,1960, Ser. No. 65,509 4 Claims. (Cl. 20641.2)

This invention relates generally to cigarette package containers orcases, and is particularly directed to a combination container whichmayserve the dual purpose of holding a package of cigarettes and which mayact to receive ashes from such cigarettesv The primary object of thisinvention is to provide an inexpensive construction for cigarettepackage containers which may be utilized to receive ashes as well asfunction to receive a complete package of cigarettes.

The more specific object of this invention is to provide a combinationash tray and cigarette package holding container with an operating pulltab construction which will function to open the container, partiallyremove the package of cigarettes, and simultaneously open the ashreceptacle portion of the container.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides inthe following specification and appended claims, certain embodiments ofdetails of construction of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the container comprising theinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a persepective view of the container of FIGURE 1illustrating the container in opened condition, a package of cigarettespartially removed from the container, and the ash receiving opening ofthe container;

FIGURE 3 is a sectioned view in side elevation taken along the lines 33of FIGURE 1 illustrating the cover of the container in the open positionwith the dotted lines showing the cigarette package in partially removedposition; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectioned view in side elevation of a modified form of thecontainer with an integral pull tab construction.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the container includesa generally rectangular series of panels of material, preferably formedfrom one blank sheet, there being side panels 11 and 12 and front andback panels 13 and 14. The lower end of the container is closed by anend panel 15 while the access end of the container is closed by a hingedcover member 16.

Front panel 13 is cut-away at 17 to provide an opening 18, said openingbeing generally positioned toward the lower end 15 of the container. Itwill be noted that the opening 18 is placed or located on the frontpanel 13 while the hinged connection between the cover 16 and thecontainer proper is located along one edge 19* of the back panel 14.

Atfixed to the interior of the container along the inner surface ofpanel 13 between the ash receiving 18' and the access opening of thecontainer by any suitable means such as an adhesive, is a combinationclosure flap and operating pull tab 20 of flexible material, thefunctions of which will be hereinafter described. The combination unit20 includes a flap portion 21 which, when the container is closed, ispositioned by the cigarette package held by the container in such amanner as to close the opening 18 in the panel 13 of the container 10.The elongated tab 22 of the combination unit 20' extends from anintegral relationship with the flap 21 along the inner surface of theback wall 14 of the container 10 upwardly within the cover 16 of thecontainer and downwardly beyond the lower edge 23 of the cover 16 to aposition along the outer surface of front panel 13 of container 10, sothat the tab may be grasped by the fingers of a person utilizing theinvention.

20 with the lower end ofthe cigarette package, and the flap 21 will bepulled downwardly about a. transverse hinged connection 24 with thepanel 13 so that the portion of the container 10 between the rear edgeof the cigarette package and the container end 15 may be utilized as anash receptacle. The hinged connection 24 is determined along the edge ofthe adhesive connecting between the container and the combination unit.It is thus obvious that the pull tab unit has three simultaneouslyoperative functions, namely, opening the cover 16 of the container 10,partially removing the cigarettes in packaged form and depressing theflap 211 to make opening 18 lead directly to the ash tray portion nowformed by partof the container. I Y

The combination unit 29 is enlarged, flanged and folded to conform tothe interior of container 10 as is illustrated 28 to extend inwardly ofthe container 10 to terminate in the integral flap and tab unit.Otherwise the construction of FIGURE 4 is quite similar to that of FIG-URES l, 2 and 3 and the operation thereof is identical,

It should be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that thecontainer 10 may be formed of any suitable material and that suchcontainer may be utilized with any generally standard package ofcigarettes either of normal or king size with regard to length. Likewisethe configuration of the container might be modified for the purpose ofaccommodating specially contoured or sized cigarette packages. Suchmodifications as well as detail modifications of the flap and pull tabstructure in connection with the combination utility container areconsidered well within the purview of this inventor who intends only tobe limited to a reasonable interpretation of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A cigarette package container comprising a hollow shell ofsubstantially rectangular configuration, having front, back and sidepanels, a lower end panel and an upper access opening, a closure for theaccess opening of said shell hinged along the access opening edge of theback panel of the shell, said front panel having an ash receivingopening positioned generally toward the lower end panel of the shell, acombination unit including a closure flap for said ash receiving openingand a pull tab affixed to the interior of said shell in such a mannerthat the flap portion of said combination unit is hinged adjacent theedge of the ash receiving opening toward the access opening of thecontainer, and so that the pull tab of said unit is generally positionedin a free manner along the inner surface of the lower and back panels ofthe container and extends longitudinally of the container to the accessopening, is reversed upon itself and is then extended to a positionnormally adjacent the front wall of the container when the containerclosure is in the closed position.

Patented Alan .17, 1 962 2. The invention according to claim 1 whereinthe combination unit is an integral extension of the front panel of thecontainer.

3. A cigarette package container comprising a hollow shell ofsubstantially rectangular configuration, being formed "of a plurality ofintegral panels, one of which is a lower end panel, and having an upperaccess opening for the reception of a cigarette package, one of saidintegral panels including an ash receiving opening, cover means tonormally close said access opening, and a combination unit includingclosure means for said ash receiving opening and an elongated actuatingmeans extending therefrom along the inner surface of said container 'tosaid access opening and beneath said cover means to the exterior of saidcontainer, said combination unit being secured to a contact point on theinterior of said shell above the lower end panel whereby operation ofReferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS WelchMar. 21, 1933 Wright Apr. 11, 1944

